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Good stuff, Tom.
As you already know, I’m on board with this plan.
I’m not sure PG by himself would make a huge difference, so I hope our FO targets Cousins. He would instantly turn us into a playoff team. If our youngsters keep progressing, along with the addition of Cousins, we could make a deep playoff run.

Thanks for commenting, John. Loved how we competed on the recent 4-game road trip. Give us the best player on any of those teams and we would have won all four games. I want to see what this group grows into. Every day, they remind more and more of the young Warriors team that Mark Jackson finally got to play defense. Give us Cousins and a couple of years to grow and we will be the next version of the Warriors.

Thanks, Matt. My first option is also Cousins but I won’t complain if we get Paul George instead. My main concern is we don’t gamble and trade Randle and Clarkson hoping to use the cap space to sign two elite free agents. We’re better off to keep Randle and Clarkson and take a couple of years more and have a better more sustainable contending team.

I change my mind based on the performance of each player and wether or not they are progressing.
The way both Randle and Clarkson played last year, they were very expendable. This year, they both improved tremendously on their weakest parts of their game- Randle can now finish at the rim and has become an excellent defender and Jordan has greatly increased his shooting while learning to be smarter with the ball.
You do have to give me credit for being right about Russell. He was an awful PG, and never had the skills to be a leader.
Zubac has dropped off significantly, but still has plenty of time to turn it around.
Nobody thought Brandon would be this good, so early in only his second year(most thought he may be at this stage in his third or fourth season).

I admire that you are able to admit to your shortcomings, Mr. McLyne. It’s true that you are both impatient and ambivalent, the latter quality allowing you to give pause to your former quality. As for D’Angelo Russell, he is a quality basketball player, a true combo guard who will be an All-Star someday if he can get healthy and may even have a career trajectory similar to James Harden. I do not believe that he and Lonzo would have worked well together, but who knows. I think Magic and Rob’s vision is coming into focus with Lonzo Ball as our future lead guard, especially with the other pieces that are forming around him.

I’m neither impatient nor ambivalent.
I reserve the right to change my mind about a player based on their improvement, just like every other person who believes in reason.
Russell becoming Harden????
Thanks for the laugh.
One of the qualities of a man is being able to change his mind based on changing facts.
Another one is admitting when he his wrong.
You have quite a lot of growing up to do, my friend.
That’s okay, unlike you, I have the patience to wait around for you to someday get there.

Russell is outpacing Harden, and has in each of his first three seasons, but your impatience precludes the development of young players. They actually have to break through for you to go from “impatient” to “patient.” How is that consistent? Let’s see where DLo is in his fourth season (next season) when he will be one year younger than Harden at that point in his young career. I stand my prior complimentary comments.

Look at their numbers. Granted, Harden was coming off the bench and was the third wheel behind KD and Westbrook, WHICH IS WHY I SAID LET’S SEE HOW DLO DOES IN HIS FOURTH SEASON. Of course, simple minded ignoramuses like you boil my comment down to “DLo will be as good as James Harden.” I didn’t say that, but based ON HIS NUMBERS, his trajectory has actually been better. D’Angelo Russell’s biggest problem is his health. His knees are a vulnerability, so we’ll see what happens with him.

Your best article yet, Tom. You have obviously taken many of my posts and articulated them. What is interesting is that while the young cores in Philly, Minnesota, Milwaukee and even Denver and Phoenix, to an extent, have been getting all the accolades, the large market marquis franchise Los Angeles Lakers very DEEP, young core is flying under the radar. I love that. I am praying that Randle and Clarkson remain Lakers. The Oladipo and Gordon points you raised were superb and would give any smart NBA person pause to mess with the talented, developing chemistry. Bravo!

Thanks, Keen. I’m hoping we keep Randle and Clarkson and give them bigger minutes and roles. I don’t want to see them turning into All-Stars and impact players wearing other team’s colors. That would kill me. Let’s grow and develop and add to this great young corps. If it takes us another couple of years, it will be worth it.

Always on board with most of the kids and adding Cuz and/or LBJ and/or PG. Have been all along. That’s the only path to a Chip IMHO. My keepers: Clarkson and Randle if we can (what great punch off the bench, just would like to blend more and see more minutes). Also want: Hart (give him more chance), of course LB (not crazy about his shooting, but it is coming around along with his aggression), Kuz and Ingy are for sure. Can’t afford either Lopez (too slow for what we want to do) or KCP (unless he shows alot more, don’t need him gobbling minutes from the others and can’t pay him close to his price this year). Cuz can run and shoot, as can PG and LBJ. If we got Cuz and could get Klay next Free time, that’d be awesome. Zub is a mystery to me? Why is he not playing and why not GLeague?

Nah, Thomas Bryant is still way to raw, Mr. Tate, but he will be a player in this league. I’ve been watching him from time to time. If we can convince Demarcus Cousins to don the purple & gold, Thomas will be an ideal back up in a couple of seasons.

Nothing that’s happened so far has changed the plan laid out since Earv & Rob came on board. If 2 of the 3 targets (PG, DMC, LBJ) wanna sign then the only current players safe are Lonzo, BI, & Kuzma. If only 1 is coming then u have options.

What has changed is the admission by Magic that they might save some cap space for the summer 2019 if the elite free agents they want aren’t available this summer. It’s probably not a coincidence that this statement came out right after a flurry of LeBron rumors saying his going to the Lakers was a long shot. I’m sure Magic and Rob have discussed this and other possible options but this is the first public deviation from the speak two elite free agents into existence.

You could even argue it might make good sense to keep the cap space flexibility as long as you need to be. The biggest mistakes most teams make -- including the Lakers -- is spending the money on the wrong players because they can’t attract the right players. If we can’t land LBJ, PG, or DC, then save the cap space, fill in with 1-year deals, and build organically by continuing to grow and develop the kids. You could do this long as this rookie class in on first deals.

Hell, the best strategy by the Lakers should be to NOT spend any of their cap space unless it’s for a true superstar. We have so much home grown talent already and can steadily get better just by our young players getting experience and maturing as players. We should ignore the temptation to spend that cap space on more role players. If it takes 3 years, our young players will only be that much more ready to compete for a championship. And Deng will be gone by then.

I’m just hoping Magic and Rob don’t foolishly trade Randle and Clarkson just to move Deng’s contract or create cap space. That would not only weaken the team, cost us wins, and make us less attractive to elite free agents but would put us at risk of letting them go with nothing in return. Last year, I would have traded both of them with little hesitation and that would have been a mistake. After the way Randle and Clarkson upped their games this year, it would dumb to trade them unless it were for Paul George or DeMarcus Cousins. Can’t take a chance of losing them for nothing which is what you’re doing if you trade them for just cap space.

Agreed. Rob Pelinka made a public comment about a month ago similar to what Magic said though. Magic is a salesman. By going public with this “plan” they will find out ahead of time who might be interested and who might not. Once a tamperer, always a tamperer.

Astute write-up and I think the front office was always going to wait until well into January to evaluate the roster. Barring a ‘can’t so no’ deal, they have no reason to throw a fire sale at all. They definitely have room to sign one max free agent this summer.

I sincerely hope they go after Cousins and let Lopez and Pope walk. Re-sign Randle, if possible, he may have already soured on us for relegating him to the bench and forcing his QO lower (although that’s not a foregone reality, yet). At any rate, I think there’s still a lot of season left to play and we’ll see hoe the guys all continue to play and grow.

Thanks, Jamie. I think the only way we trade Randle and Clarkson is if it is for Paul George. While there is still a risk of not being able to sign a second elite free agent, getting PG back would not only improve the team in the short term but also make it more attractive as a landing spot for that second elite free agent. Any deal that’s not for a superstar should be rejected.

The Lakers need to do exactly what Danny Ainge and the Celtics did. Collect assets and get better organically by developing your young talent and wait for the right move, which in their case was Kyrie Irving becoming available. Ainge was criticized for resisted deal after deal until he finally pulled the plug.

I wanted the Lakers to get involved in the Irving sweepstakes because he would have been perfect for the Lakers. At any rate, we spent four years in hell creating the picks that gave us all this young talent on cheap deals. That cap space cannot be used for anything but sure things, not just to create cap space you hope to be able to use for a superstar.

Or what the Warriors did, who traded for Bogut and Iggy to compliment the young core, and then lucked into KD. Or some combo of the two. Let’s say we sign Boogie, sign Randle to a long term deal and don’t save any cap space for 2019. Guess what? We have solid assets to trade for matching salaries. I’m not sure that isn’t more valuable than cap space.

It definitely is because most great players never hit free agency until they’re in their prime. Cap space doesn’t cost you anything but your shopping list is limited. Trading costs you but you have a chance at more players. Only trade I want to see is for PG or DC. I don’t give away talent to get rid of Deng. Better to use Eric Pincus extend, waive, and stretch or save the cap space to 2020 when our kids will be ready to win a championship.

I’m watching the 2006 West Finals- Lakers vs Suns.
I don’t think any other player besides Kobe or maybe Jordan could have taken such a talent starved team that far.
Smush Parker: by far, the worst starting PG I’ve ever watched try to lead the Lakers in my 33 years of witnessing NBA ball.
Kwame “hands of stone” Brown: couldn’t shoot, couldn’t finish, couldn’t pass, couldn’t block shots, low bball I.Q. He could occasionally play decent post D.
Luke Walton: Excellent passer- that’s about it.
Lamar: Became a huge part of our last two Chips, but at this point in his career, he was very inconsistent.
Bench guys: Sasha, Cook, Aaron McKie, Maurice Evans, Farmar(rookie), Bynum(rookie and didn’t see much floor time). Chris Mihm played a big role earlier in the season, but went down with 18 games left in the regular season.

Taking this group to the West Finals was one of Kobe’s most underrated accomplishments.
Just unbelievable considering how stacked the West was and with very little help.

So it’s a fact that Kobe would have not torn his Achilles if Mike D’Antoni had played him fewer minutes (which would have been over Kobe’s objections anyway). OK, whatever makes you feel good about your opinions.

Well, Mr. Keen, young MasterThomas Bryant, (rawness notwithstanding) would certainly put up better numbers than Lopez, Bogut or Zubac. His ability to stretcb the floor, run the floor, clean the glass and protect the rim puts him above the others currently on our roster.

There are several raw players currently wearing the P & G. Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, the aforementioned Ivincs Zubac and Brandon Ingram. Fortunately, being raw does not prohibit one from contributing.

They will know when he is ready. If they feel that playing 30 mpg in the Mickey Mouse league is better for his development, I don’t have a problem with that at all. Like Lonzo and BI, he’s only 20, but wasn’t exactly a #2 pick. There’s plenty of time for him to develop.

In the mean time, he could certainly contribute more than any one else who has manned the 5 hole. They’ve brought him up 3 times -- just to leave him sit. Zubac fills that roll rather handsomely. And, he won’t run from Lebron. He’s got fire in his belly.

I’m not so sure about that, Mr. Tate. I think the solution is playing Lopez fewer minutes and Randle more minutes at the 5. There’s no reason to disrupt the ever improving chemistry with this team by prematurely inserting a young, raw talent like T Bryant. There’s plenty of time for that.

Nice write up. I agree with everything thing you wrote. For me the timing is off. Our kids are not ready yet so I wonder if a star player will be willing to come and wait. Superstar is a term that is loosely thrown around. For me there only a handful in the league. KD and Lebron in my opinion are the only two that are available this summer and do not see either coming to the Lakers.

I see PG in the next tier and that’s why I’m not that enthusiastic about him. We already have 3 forwards with star potential in Randle, BI and Kuz. Since signing PG would not make us a contender I would rather develop the young players. Like everyone else here I think Cousins would make the most sense. There are several talented young bigs coming up that we need to match up with. Also he would create match up problems for teams like the Warriors and Rockets. I could see a Shaq Kobe dynamic devolping with him and BI. And like previously stated a few times, you can trade good players if you need to as opposed to having cap space where there are no guarantees.

Aloha Mr Tate

I share you enthusiasm for Bryant. I have watched several G league games and have been impressed by his play. I think with his motor and length He could Become a Clint Capella type player with a 3 point stroke. But I do take G league results with a grain of salt. Zubac tore up the league last year and was great in the 3 games he has played down there this year. There just are not many talented bigs down there. It’s a reflection of the NBA in general. Even Zimmerman has looked good at times. At 20 I don’t think Thomas could match Randles defense yet. Randle’s D has been close to Elite. I suspect that Mr Bryant will get his chance later in the season. Right now it’s probably best that he plays a lot and learns as opposed to leading cheers from the bench.

The ultimate modern NBA lineup. You have 4 guys who can handle, pass and switch everything on defense. Throw in a bench with Clarkson, Hart, Nance and Bryant. We would be a true contender by no later then 2020.

I love the lineup. Randle could then slide over to the 5 when we go small like Draymond does. I also like Hart at the 2 so Ingram can play his normal position. In that case, I would bring Kuzma off the bench. Against some teams, I might start Kuzma instead of Randle. The Lakers young depth is something that Minny and Philly can’t match. It’s also why we need to keep Randle and Clarkson.

Having a strong bench continues to be underrated. A Clarkson, Hart, Kuzma, Nance, Randle/Bryant bench would have great potential at both ends. It’s about Randle and Clarkson being a better fit for this team than a second elite player. Until a team becomes dominant like the Warriors, it’s hard to put together a bench that can make a difference.

I personally like the idea of keeping the starting lineup a little fluid just like the closing lineups to take advantage of matchups and guys who are playing well. Versatility in a system part of our identity. It’s more about each position’s role in the team defense and defense and players should ideally be able to come in and play with anybody. Interchangeable parts means you don’t need to have fixed rotations.

You’re right about the disconnect between our young core’s championship window and that of the free agents we’re pursuing. I haven’t worked out the numbers but I bet you could keep that cap space until Deng leaves and the young core is ready to compete for a championship. Would have to extend Ingram and Nance but would have a year left with the four guys from this draft -- Lonzo, Kyle, Josh, and Thomas. That timing looks perfect for the Lakers.